The present invention relates to shielding for semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to shielding for semiconductor devices having magnetic materials used therein which are to be protected from stray external magnetic fields.
Magnetic materials are used, for example, in magnetic cell memories and magnetic field sensors. In random access magnetoresistive memories, storing data is accomplished by applying magnetic fields and thereby causing a magnetic material in a cell to be magnetized into either of two possible memory states. Recalling data is accomplished by sensing resistance changes in the cell when magnetic fields are applied. The magnetic fields are created by passing currents through strip lines (word lines) external to the magnetic structures, or through the magnetic structures themselves (sense lines).
Material layers which have a high magnetic permeability have been used in monolithic integrated circuits as a basis for magnetic cell memories. Early magnetic memory cells used a magnetic permeable layer formed of a thin film of a metallic alloy composition which, for example, might include nickel, cobalt, and iron. The films are fabricated in the course of the fabrication procedures for monolithic integrated circuits with some added steps. The films so fabricated usually exhibit uniaxial anisotropy magnetoresistance, and the materials used to form such films are known as AMR materials. More recently, magnetic memory cells have been formed as narrow stripes etched into a inhomogeneous conductor, for example, a multi-layer thin film stack permalloy-copper-permalloy. Such memory cells exhibit a pronounced decrease in electrical resistance when an applied magnetic field brings the magnetic moments in different regions into alignment. The materials used to form these more recent memory cells are referred to as Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) materials. Because very large demagnetizing fields would otherwise result, the magnetization of such thin films, whether AMR materials or GMR materials, will always lie substantially in the plane of the film; that is, the magnetization vector for the material will be substantially in the plane of the film. The orientation of the easy axis of magnetization can be chosen if the film is deposited in the presence of a magnetic field oriented in the selected direction.
The magnetization of thin films formed of either AMR or GMR materials will always lie substantially in the plane of the film, that is, the magnetization vector for the material will be substantially in the plane of the film. The orientation of the easy-axis axis of magnetization can be chosen if the film is deposited in the presence of a magnetic field oriented in the selected direction.
Magnetic field sensors are typically configured as a Wheatstone bridge configuration. That is, all four legs of the bridge lie in a plane and change resistance proportional to an applied magnetic field.
A shield for protection from magnetic fields may be formed of a metal having a relatively high permeability. One such metal which is well known for use in magnetic shielding, and has a high initial permeability, is known as Mu metal and is available from Carpenter Technology Corporation, Carpenter Steel Division. Such alloys are referred to generally as Mu metal and are available from other sources.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,002 entitled xe2x80x9cSemiconductor Device Housing with Magnetic Field Protectionxe2x80x9d dated Aug. 28, 1990 and assigned to Honeywell Inc., describes a housing for integrated circuit structures containing magnetic thin film which has permeable protective layers parallel to the thin film. U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,772 entitled xe2x80x9cShielded Package For Magnetic Devicesxe2x80x9d dated Aug. 17, 1999 and assigned to Honeywell Inc., describes the use of permeable metal shields attached by epoxy to the outside of a high-reliability hermetic package. If the shields had been located in the die cavity, exposure of the epoxies to the high assembly temperatures could have liberated large amounts of moisture, which would have resulted in early failure of the integrated circuit.
When a magnetic field shield is located outside the package, the shield extends beyond the underlying magnetizable material by an amount that is somewhat related to the spacing of the shield from the magnetizable material. For example if the distance from the plane of the magnetizable material to the plane of the shield is 0.015 inches, then the size of the shield may be selected so that it extends beyond the magnetizable material by two or three times this amount or 0.030 to 0.045 inches. Therefore it is desirable to locate the shield as close as possible to the magnetizable material so as to minimize the use of shield material and the associated weight and cost.
In integrated circuit devices having such permeable thin films, the orientation of the magnetization vector in the plane is usually important to the operation of the device. In accord with thermodynamics, the magnetization in such a film will arrange itself to minimize the magnetic energy. Magnetic fields external to the film will often be generated in and about the device as part of the device operation. These fields must be oriented to have components in the plane of the magnetic thin films to have a significant effect on the magnetization of such films in accord with minimizing the magnetic energy. Fields perpendicular to the films will have no effect on such magnetization.
With regard to stray magnetic fields, i.e., those magnetic fields which are generated from sources external to the film and to the integrated circuit device and its housing, there will be a desire in many instances that part or all of them have no significant effect on these permeable films. This is particularly true in the case of memory devices where the information contained in the memory is contained in the orientations of the magnetization vectors of the magnetic material used in each memory cell. Any such external magnetic field effects which would alter the orientations of the magnetization vectors in the memory cells could contribute to a loss of information or to erroneous information being provided by the memory. Recent improvements in magnetic film memories may lead to their widespread use in commercial devices. Therefore, such films need to be protected from external magnetic field disturbances, but the integrated circuit structures must also be housed in such a way to minimize cost if they are to be a viable product for the commercial memory market. Therefore, a shielding arrangement to protect magnetic films in such integrated circuit structures from significant external adverse influences, including external magnetic fields, and which can be economically provided, would be desirable.
For military, space or other applications requiring a high reliability package, it is desirable to have a hermetically sealed package that is free from any internal organic materials such as epoxy materials that may liberate moisture. In applications such as the radiation environment of space, it is also desirable to have the metal parts within the package at Vss or ground potential.
Thus a need exists for a simple, lightweight, economical shielding arrangement for integrated circuits using magnetizable materials.
The present invention solves these and other needs by providing a shielding arrangement for protecting a circuit from stray magnetic fields, including a circuit die having an integrated circuit structure that contains a magnetizable material with its magnetization orientation confined substantially to a magnetization plane. In a first aspect, the die has a surface parallel to the magnetization plane. Magnetic shielding material located at the surface of the die is affixed to the die and is of a size to overlay the magnetizable material. In another aspect, the invention includes a magnetic field shield formed by thin film processing techniques. Multiple layers of magnetic field shielding may be used.